Cabina Inquiries
The Cabina Inquiries was a House Crux investigation of treasonous elements on the planet of Cabina, executed in the wake of the Conflict of 3200 and its aftermath. A small task force led by the HCS The Deceitful Have No Friends translated into the Benilli system unannounced with orders to speedily ascertain the amount and strength of treasonous elements, in particular within the local Crux command, and if possible immediately initiate an investigation and purge of any such elements. When the task force arrived in orbit, it was found that the former STO-member, the so-called Church of Humanity, Repentant (CHR), had completely collapsed and been replaced by a newly founded charitable conglomerate calling itself the Society for Ethical Reform, Aid, and Humanitarianism (SERAPH). SERAPH was eminently interested in showing itself to be a new and separate entity from the maligned CHR, as well as establishing and restoring proper relationships and integration between Cabina and the noble houses and government of the Empire. As a result, the task force was able to conduct its investigation, and while certain seditious elements attempted to resist, the Crux investigators were able to purge local Crux command of disloyal members and secure important evidence regarding treasonous individuals still at large. Though not perfectly pleased with the extent of SERAPH cooperation, the investigation concluded that the new organization had been sufficiently cleared of further association with any of the treasonous elements of the former Repentant Church so as to not warrant any immediate follow-up investigations. In the words of the new Oberster Richter of Cabina, Horvath Fynn, SERAPH had been “eminently helpful, and quick to stay out of the way of our crucial investigation.” Background In 3200, the religious organization of the Church of Humanity, Repentant, elected to join the newly founded Sector Trade Organization, and participated in the conflict that followed, supporting Repentant militants, most notably the demagogue Ardeshir Vela in the attempted seizure of Imperial Prime. Throughout the conflict, local Crux command on Cabina had been sending repeated assurances and vague half-truths that it had the Repentant situation on the planet under control, and did not require backup. With each repetition, the leadership of House Crux lost more and more confidence in either the loyalty, competence, or both, of the personnel assigned to the backwater planet. However, the greater priority put on managing the situation on Imperial Prime and other core worlds meant that Crux refrained from taking direct action while the conflict lasted. After the audit and legal acquisition of A.C.R.E. by House Eridanus, the STO collapsed. The Repentant Church, under pressure from internal factionalism and threatened by imperial reprisal for its participation in the conflict, shattered, its legal dissolution announced by the then imperial governor of Cabina. As word reached the Imperial Core that the Church of Humanity, Repentant was dissolving, House Crux dispatched a force of DoJ, JES, and House Guard personnel to Cabina to investigate and prosecute members of both the CHR and the existing Crucian presence on Cabina. By the time Crux arrived, SERAPH had largely established itself on the planet. The new charitable conglomerate had emerged from the various fractured elements of the now late Repentant church, with its lay elements (both charitable and corporate) taking over much of the activities formerly supervised by the clergy. House Crux was quick to pursue collaboration, and fortunately for the task force, SERAPH was eminently interested in showing itself to be a new and separate entity from the maligned CHR, as well as establishing and restoring proper relationships and integration between Cabina and the noble houses and government of the Empire. Note: Portions of the Cabina Inquiries Lore was produced using the Factions in the Dark system. The tables below includes the initial setup that was used, as well as the outcome of the dice rolls. The Inquiries Arrival of 'The Deceitful Have No Friends' ''BREAKING NEWS: Cabina Investigated??'' Several key sources on Cabina have just reported to PRISM that multiple House Crux vessels have entered the Benilli System, carrying members of the Judiciary, the JES, and the House Guard. Though some sort of official response had been expected since the dissolution of the STO, the event has taken many by surprise, and official and non-official institutions seem to be scrambling to respond. Contacts in the office of the recently elected Cabina governor have told us that House Crux gave the planetary government no prior warning, and the governor was not informed of the judiciary ships’ arrival until the vessels had already entered Cabina orbit. When asked for a formal statement on the matter, representatives of House Crux had this to say: “Task Force Raven’s Mantle has been dispatched under command of Droungarios Falkenrath Azita aboard the flagship HCS The Deceitful Have No Friends. We recently received reports from Cabina that suggested a new government has taken control of the planet. The task force has been dispatched along with a sizable security force should this ‘SERAPH’ prove openly hostile, but their primary mission is the investigation of the local House Crux precinct and what remains of the Church of Humanity, Repentant. House Crux’s policy regarding Cabina has been too complacent for too long, and changes must be made. We hope to find SERAPH and the people of Cabina cooperative with our inquiries so that we might root out the stench of treason and corruption that turned spirituality into violence and faith into revolt.” At the time of this writing, no Cabinan organization or government had issued a formal response to the arrival of the law to their planet. ''--PRISM News Story of Crux’s Arrival on Cabina'' Task Force Raven’s Mantle was dispatched to Cabina under the command of Droungarios Falkenrath Azita and the HCS cruiser The Deceitful Have No Friends. Accompanying her and her ship was a small fleet composed of two additional cruisers, patrols boats, fighters, and ground forces of the JES and Crucian House Guard. Not knowing what Cabina would look like by the time they arrived, Raven’s Mantle was to establish a position within the Benilli System and assess appropriate action from there. Anwalts, Richters, Inquisitors, and other House Crux DoJ and JES personnel were included in the Task Force with the hope that they’d be able to land on Cabina and undertake their investigations of the Crucian emplacement and whatever remained of the CHR. Personnel: * Commander of the Flotilla: Droungarios Falkenrath Azita (NPC) * Lead Adjudicator: Richter Horvath Fynn (NPC) * Ground Commander: Vogt Mokrani Bastian (NPC) * Lead Investigator: Inquisitor Zaid Madiha (NPC) SERAPH's Response to House Crux's Arrival The arrival of Task Force Raven’s Mantle was the first major field test of SERAPH’s newly established Secretariat and its Secretary-General. As a conglomerate of otherwise largely autonomous charitable and corporate enterprises, the SERAPH Secretariat was created primarily to prevent or resolve destructive internal conflicts, such as the Caffeine Conflict between Ankhayat Coffee and Cabina Cups Tea, or the sectarian disagreements that had shattered the Repentant Church. However, it also served a secondary function of negotiating and coordinating unified responses to the sector’s other factions. Moving swiftly, the Secretary-General requested and obtained approval of the SERAPH board to act as the primary liaison between the charitable conglomerate and the Crux investigators. Working in close conjunction with the newly elected planetary governor, Grand Chemex Chemical Engineer Triangulum Arabica Kaldi, the Secretary-General was the first to hail the HCS “The Deceitful Have No Friends,” and in the brief conversation was able to convince commander Droungarios Falkenrath Azita and lead adjudicator Richter Horvath Fynn that both SERAPH and the Cabina government intended to be at least mostly cooperative, dispensing with the need of some kind of planetary pacification before proceeding with the Inquiries proper. A "Warm" Welcome The first and most important objective of the Inquiries was to investigate the Crucian personnel that had been stationed on Cabina since before the war with the STO began. The Judiciary was concerned that, given their distance from the Core, the Crucian personnel on Cabina had acclimated to the local culture and converted to the Repentant Faith, rendering them compromised. Few reports had reached Hiera from Cabina during the war with the STO, and those that did had been vague or filled with excuses for the lack of action taken by the local Crux branch. As soon as they had confirmed that their orbit and landing on the planet would not be contested, Richter Horvath Fynn, Inquisitor Zaid Madiha, Vogt Mokrani Bastian, and their teams moved to secure the main offices of Crucian planetary law enforcement in the capital of Lux Gravare. The arrival came as a complete surprise to many of the local Crucian personnel, including Kriegsherrin Najafi Aurora, who had converted to the Repentant Faith through members of the Liberator ideological school. She and around a dozen other Crucian Repentant sympathizers, including officers and levies, had not been made aware of the arrival of Raven’s Mantle until the forces commanded by Vogt Mokrani were seen landing at Lux Gravarre’s port. The sitting Oberster Richter of Cabina, Erakat Tivadar, had tipped off Droungarios Falkenrath about their conversion, hoping to shield his own corruption by throwing Kriegsherrin Najafi and her compatriots to the wolves. Fearing imprisonment or worse for treason, Krieghserrin Najafi and her allies attempted to stage a surprise coup of the local Crux headquarters. They planned to acquire Oberster Richter Erakat’s security clearance, pin much of the blame for the local office’s failings on him, and destroy as much evidence on Repentant fugitives and sympathizers within the local Crucian ranks, such as themselves, as possible. Najafi and her allies managed to acquire the Oberster Richter’s security clearance quickly, holding Erakat, sniveling, at gunpoint. They then used the clearance to upload a large amount of previously-collected evidence on Erakat’s corruption and failings to the Crucian flagship in orbit. From there, the group moved to the servers and secure archives of evidence storage, but they had barely begun their destruction of evidence when Vogt Mokrani arrived. Kriegsherrin Najafi was killed in the ensuing firefight in an attempt to stall for time, and managed to wound Vogt Mokrani, who spent the next few days in recovery. Najafi’s sacrifice proved futile, however, as the remainder of Kriegsherrin Najafi’s allies were all killed within minutes after refusing to stand down against the superior numbers of Mokrani’s force. Besides Mokrani’s minor injury, Raven’s Mantle sustained no casualties, but some small amount of evidence regarding fugitive Repentants was lost or corrupted thanks to the bold stand of Kriegsherrin Najafi and her allies. Corruption Undone Oberster Richter Erakat was arrested not long afterwards. Between the evidence revealed by Kriegsherrin Najafi and more uncovered in the subsequent investigation, it came to light that he had been receiving bribes from a number of Cabina’s wealthier citizens to keep quiet and engage in no more than token prosecution of members of the CHR, heavily lowering the sentences for many crimes and looking the other way on others. Erakat had also been using House Crux funds to operate a smuggling exchange of goods, drugs, and weaponry to bolster his own personal wealth, profiting off the war and local unrest. He fiercely argued against his arrest, believing his position as Oberster Richter could protect him, but the evidence exposed by Kriegsherrin Najafi damned his chances before he’d even begun to make his case. Almost immediately following Erakat’s indictment, Richter Horvath Fynn was declared provisional Oberster Richter of Cabina, and proceeded to attempt to root out any and all further disloyalty from the Cabinan Crucian command. Through the following investigation, Droungarious Falkenrath and Richter Horvath proved a ruthless duo. While SERAPH attempted to shield or stall for some Repentant sympathizers within Crux’s local ranks, none escaped investigation. All those suspected of involvement with the Liberator ideological school were arrested and transported off-world for sentencing. A number of other Crucians suspected of connection to the Balance and Idealist ideological schools were also arrested and questioned. Ultimately, nearly three-quarters of the Crucian deployment on Cabina was either arrested or reassigned to other worlds, all those suspected of sympathizing with or being Repentants were removed from their posts, this was in addition to the fourteen, i.e. Kriegsherrin Najafi and her allies, who had died in the initial confrontation. Aftermath With order restored to local Crux command and so much evidence still securely in Crux’s hands, Vogt Mokrani led JES and House Guard teams in pursuit of known Repentant fugitives across Cabina. While SERAPH made careful efforts to assist some fugitives or obfuscate their paths, Mokrani proved a formidable bloodhound, arresting numerous fugitives and chasing others into hiding. While many remain at large, the length of time they can remain that way seems to become ever shorter. Many specific incidents took place between the Richter Horvath Fynn’s assumption of the duties of Oberster Richter and the final official completion of the inquiries. A number of these are further described in the Case Files section below. Not long after sending the final report to Crucian High Command, House Crux showed its approval by removing the provisional from his title and instituting Richter Horvath Fynn as the new permanent Oberster Richter of Cabina. Horvath was quick to request additional personnel be sent (beyond the necessary replacements) to further bolster Crux’s Cabinan presence. However, while the ranks of most of the officer core has been purged, like on most planets, the ranks of lower and non-officer personnel, the beat cops and street detectives, are still filled primarily by locals. While these have largely accepted the change of leadership, the vast cultural differences mean tensions remain high between the new Crucian deployment and local law enforcement personnel. However, for the time being, with the help of SERAPH and the Cabinan governor, a new, stable and peaceful, equilibrium has been reached. Ultimately, Oberster Richter Horvath indicated in his report that SERAPH proved “eminently helpful, and quick to stay out of the way of our crucial investigation.” The Cabina Inquiries Case Files Echoes of the Ardeshir With the Crucian headquarters in Lux Gravare handled, Raven’s Mantle was quick to get underway on their investigation of Cabina and the Church of Humanity, Repentant at large. Their first targets were the Exarchs of the Repentant Faith, amongst whom were several known to have been involved with plans of STO war crimes and the uprising on Imperial Prime. A number of these Exarchs and individuals of other rank and station willfully turned themselves over to Raven’s Mantle, some truly apologetic, others still proud of their actions. Katerina Kurlochev of the Weeping Way was amongst those to turn themselves in, publicly stating that “the evil I visited upon others, I shall welcome upon myself.” She desired repentance, but it was clear she had no wish to apologize for what she had done during questioning. Alongside her was Amiri Endo Walker, a Tapeinosi who held no shame for their actions and wished to be fairly tried by the Richters of House Crux. Both would ultimately be sentenced to Gleipnir for treason against the Empire. Immolation of the Concord Crucian investigators were also dispatched to study the ruins of the House of Exarchs and Hall of the Concord, once the meeting place of the Council of Exarchs of the CHR. Not long before Crux’s arrival on Cabina, but after the Repentant Church’s formal dissolution, protestors in the Zkaat-kit-t Memorial Plaza in Lux Gravare had forced their way into the Hall and the House of Exarchs, physically throwing the remaining group of Exarchs that staffed it out from the doors and windows. The bulk of the crowd then dispersed, but several dozen Liberators had remained, including former Exarchs, High Exarchs, members of the Infinite Chant, the Weeping Way, and the Ouroboros Cycle. These then broadcast the following message: My name is Kanna Dialect. For twenty years, I served my Faith and this sector as a High Exarch of the Church of Humanity, Repentant, and as a speaker of its Liberatory Coalition. I repeatedly urged my Church to confront -- however violently might be necessary -- the machineries of dehumanization and injustice upheld by both High Church of Messiah-of-Emperox and the Houses Noble. '' ''My Church listened, and it acted, and I acted with it. I devised and supported plans for my Church to seize the seat of imperial power, and to turn its resources toward radical sector-wide reform. I did this even against the warning of allies in the Sector Trade Organization. '' ''In an attempt to force a corrupt and genocidal Empire and to its knees, I devised and supported plans for attacks on Diomikato and war crimes on Orpheus. At my urging my Church was party to, endorsed, aided, and abetted these plans. I sorrow for the loss of life. But I do not repent my actions or my Church’s actions in this conflict, nor the vision of a transformed sector we hoped to see achieved through our deeds. My deeds, and those of my Church, were not undertaken lightly, nor without the understanding the consequence, should our defiance against the Empire fail. I have beheld the consequence to my Church, and today I embrace and accept that consequence to myself, as my final service to my siblings and to my Faith. '' ''Glory to the Martyrs! With the message’s conclusion, the Hall of Concord and the House of Exarchs were both rocked by explosions and set ablaze. All those who had remained within died, sacrificing themselves to the flames. The Crucian presence on Cabina at the time of the event had made a minimal appearance, and it was discovered in the course of investigating Oberster Richter Erakat that his smuggling operation had been at least partially responsible for acquiring and dispensing some of the explosives used in the act. Through painstaking forensic research, Crux investigators were able to confirm the identity of many of the liberators who had been part of the mass suicide, and officially close their files by declaring them deceased. Gran Panacea Incident As Crux’s investigations of Cabina continued, a group of Inquisitors was dispatched to examine the Gran Panacea Medical Center for signs of them assisting Synthetic Humans. The Medical Center was undergoing renovation and expansion at the time, under direction of its newly founded Gran Panacea Charitable Foundation, and a number of damning pieces of equipment and evidence was being moved off site before Crux’s arrival. Unfortunately, due to Crux’s swiftness, the last truckload was still being prepared when the Inquisitors made their appearance. Its cargo included several long-term Synthetic patients, who had been considered too unstable to move before the off site was fully ready. But, as if by a fortuitous triumph to counter Crux’s success, just about to check himself into the Medical Center for a stomach pain happened to be the Synthetic Human Niles Taylor, a member of the Vigil’s Railroad who had delivered multiple people to the hospital before and quickly realized exactly what was about to happen. Realizing a considerable section of the railroad could be compromised if the Gran Panacea’s became the target of a deeper Crux investigation, Niles pretended to go into a neural-programming-induced fugue state and attacked the Inquisitors on the front steps of the Medical Center. He managed to break the arm of one of the investigators and give another a mild concussion before he was surrounded and shot dead. Niles gave his life, but in the chaos and distraction the last truck was able to sneak away through a back road. Thanks to the Vigil’s Railroad compartmentalized nature, Niles had never had any direct contact with any of its operators in the medical center, and the Inquisitors deemed Niles’ attack circumstantial. With no evidence left to indicate any deeper connection, the Gran Panacea was cleared of any involvement with illegal activities. Tearrorist Pots and Plots See also: Terrifying Tea (short story) The SERAPH entity most eager to showcase its and Cabina’s loyalty to the Empire was the Cabina Cups Tea Company. Going against the initial agreement to allow the Secretary-General to coordinate all communication with the Crucian task force, the Tea Company sent all Crucian investigators a welcome package including a silver kettle, a selection of fine tea flavors, and tickets to an all-expenses-paid dinner on the Flying Saucer space station. The investigators firmly told the Tea Company not to send anymore such packages, and that all packages sent would be confiscated as potential evidence of improper corporate behavior. Subsequently, the packages were re-wrapped and redistributed amongst the officers as belated Cruxmas gifts. These attempts at wooing the Crucian task force had little effect, but soon fortune would give the company exactly the kind of opportunity it’d been looking for. A serf employee of one of the company’s myriads of tea plantations made the brave decision to secretly travel to the planetary capital to personally inform the company CEO Ms. Minty Repentance of a terrorist plot being hatched in the Cabina Frontier. Ms. Minty immediately called in both the House Crux task force as well as the tea-faction-aligned Aquilan garrison. A joint Crux-Aquilan strikeforce was put together and sent in. Unbeknownst to the Crucian investigators, Ms. Minty had made clear to the Aquilans that the interests of tea on Cabina would be greatly served if none of the terrorists survived to tell any tales of how the company staffed its tea plantations to begin with. The center of the plot was the frontier town of Sendermere, which had been harboring liberator UPC-sympathizers for an unknown number of times, possibly dating as far back as the founding of the UPC or perhaps even the start of the Cygnus war. Following the fall of the UPC, many Yakiyahn Repentant Liberators and their allies made their way to Sendermere, and began to convert it into a base of operation. Hoping to use the town as a launching pad for terrorist attacks against renewed Crux and other Imperial presence on the planet, taking advantage of Cabina Cups Tea shipments to smuggle arms and operatives around the planet and the sector. When the joint Aquilan-Crux strikeforce arrived, they were met with immediate resistance. After tough fighting, the terrorists were rooted out. Save for the informant, none of the inhabitants of Sendermere survived. Though the tea company had hoped this would happen, its plans were greatly helped when, in a final act of defiance, the remaining extremists choose to blow up the village temple, along with themselves and all the innocent villagers they had taken hostage there, in an attempt to take as many imperials down with them as they could. The serf informant was given an official commendation for loyalty, as well as a new identity and life at an undisclosed Cabina Cups plantation, to ensure this hero of the empire could live on as an example to all. While making sure its own contributions were acknowledged, the Cabina Cups Tea Company did its best to ensure its cooperation rubbed of on SERAPH and bolstered the entire conglomerates reputation. Which helped smooth over relations with those who disliked the Tea Company’s unilateral actions in flagrant disregard of the Secretary-General. Infinite Chant Trials One of the more puzzling cases was that of the Infinite Chant. A relatively new Repentant sect, the Infinite Chant's high-ranking members had crossed the political spectrum of the CHR. One of its prominent members was among the confirmed dead in the incident at the Hall of Concord, evidence suggested they intentionally burned themselves alive. A key question was that of Father Hierodoctor Daam, who had in fact personally signed the Treaty of Cabina. Though high on the Crux list of person-of-interests, the hierodoctor had strong defenders not only in SERAPH, but also in places such as House Triangulum, where the Infinite Chant had found a small but strong following on Habitat One. In a very public trial, Daam was tried for treason and insurrection. The hierodoctor's lawyers, whom rumors say were paid for by a joint fund set up by the Chant's Triangulum benefactors and the Cabina Cups Tea company, defended Daam by making an insanity plea. Their primary evidence being the doctrines of the chant itself, and letting the hierodoctor open his mouth. After what can only be described as a spectacular bout on the witness stand, the defendant's lawyers argued that an excessive use of dangerous PsiTech of unknown origins had permanently riddled the poor hierodoctor's mind with delusions and madness. A condition possibly dating as far back as his original abandonment of his noble house of Lyra. Therefore, he could not be held mentally accountable, as he was not properly aware of anything he was doing in service of the Church of Humanity, Repentant. Though it is unknown whether it was the compelling case, or the rumored pressure by political allies, that led to the final result, in the end the verdict went in favor of the defendant's insanity plea. The Hierodoctor was court-ordered to enter into professional care, and the Infinite Chant as an organization cleared of any further charges. Table of Selected Individuals Involved and Status Post-Inquiries Category:House Crux Category:SERAPH Category:The Church of Humanity, Repentant